Johannesburg - There are going to be major disruptions over the next 18 months for thousands of Joburg motorists who are going to have to adjust their travelling times and routes.
This was the message of Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) acting managing director Mpho Kau as the agency begins the rehabilitation of three major bridges in the city.
With construction work starting this week, motorists face between 45 minutes to an hour delay along the M1 during peak times. The M1 is going to be affected from the Oxford Road off-ramp to the St Andrew’s Road ramp. This highway carries 10 000 vehicles a hour in both directions during peak times.
Kau was speaking at the launch of the rehabilitation projects for the bridges over Oxford and Federation roads and the double-decker bridge on the M1 between Carr and Anderson streets in the CBD.
The rehabilitation work, which will cost R210 million, is scheduled to be completed by May 2017.
THREE PHASES
The 1.4km of work along the M1 will be done in three phases:
1. November until March will see a reduction in lane widths along the M1 between Killarney and St Andrews on the M1 without a reduction of the number of lanes.
2. March to August will see the reduction of lanes.
3. August to December will see the reduction of lanes and off-ramps.
The double-decker rehabilitation will take until May 2017 to complete. The most disruptive work will be done at night.
OVERDUE REPAIRS
“We appeal to motorists for patience. The bridges, which were built about 50 years ago, need serious maintenance. There is water leaking into them, storm-water drains are blocked, railings and signage have been vandalised.
“We will be replacing all these and using concrete railings instead,” said Kau.
The drainage problems on the M1, which cause flooding every rainy season, will be sorted out by installing pipes.
“The rehabilitation of the city’s ageing infrastructure cannot be delayed any longer.
“We urge motorists to budget more time for their daily travels in the wake of extensive repair work. We will strive to keep disruptions to a minimum. We have a comprehensive communications strategy to keep people informed at all times about disruptions and alternative routes,” he said.
In August, Joburg mayor Tau announced the JRA had been given R1.4 billion to overhaul road infrastructure for the 2015/16 financial year.
EXPECT HEAVY TRAFFIC
On Monday, the JRA blocked off one lane of the double-decker for a few hours to show the media the structural damage to the bridge.
Although it was not during peak time, traffic was backed up for a few kilometres.
“This is what we are going to have for the next year if motorists do not heed our call to use public transport, stagger driving times, find alternative routes and make different working shift arrangements,” said Joburg metro police department chief superintendent Wayne Minnaar.
Esther Schmidt, the JRA operations manager, said extensive traffic studies had been done before construction work.
“We monitored traffic patterns doing 15-minute daily counting, we established the destination and departure patterns from suburbs and we believe we have come up with workable alternative routes. During construction, we will also be monitoring traffic patterns on a hourly basis through our control room.
“Yes, there are going to be disruptions - this is an extremely busy freeway and motorists are going to have to plan ahead,” she said.
Residents can call the JRA at 0860 562 874 for alternative routes, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.jra.org.za or